THE Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI), on Saturday, maintained that onions sold at Cagayan de Oro markets are locally-sourced from Luzon and not smuggled from Holland.
BPI Region 10 officer-in-charge Arnold dela Cruz Jr. said investigations and market monitoring by various offices of the Department of Agriculture (DA) dispelled rumors that rampant smuggling of onion in Cagayan de Oro has depressed prices.
“The local and imported onions were sourced from Manila, Ilocos Sur, Ilocos Norte, Pangasinan, and Nueva Ecija,” Dela Cruz stressed.
The BPI sought the assistance of the Philippine National Police, the National Bureau of Investigation, and the Bureau of Customs to step up monitoring and verification if there were really smuggled onions that found their way to Cagayan de Oro City.
Price monitoring on Thursday in various markets in Cagayan de Oro City showed the wholesale prices of red onions—both local and imported—at P50 to P65 a kilo while imported white onions sold for P65 to P70 per kilo.
Onions in the province retailed at P90 to P170 per kilogram (kg) for local red onions while imported red onions was at P100/kg. Imported white onions were priced between P90 and P180 per kilo.
Dela Cruz said the prices in Cagayan de Oro markets must have been due to depressed market prices of onions from Luzon that stood at P35 to P55/kg in January 2024.
The BPI report said data from the Plant Quarantine Office also showed a total of 307.1 metric tons of local red onion and 17.6 metric tons of imported white onion arrived in seaports and airport of Cagayan de Oro City last month.
Meanwhile, a total of 302.8 metric tons of local red onions arrived in the city in mid-February.
Further, according to the report, imported onions from China arrived via the Port of Davao in December, transported by land to Cagayan de Oro City, and kept in a warehouse. About 9.66 metric tons were yet to be release to the market due to slow demand for imported onions, based on the domestic plant quarantine permits issued by BPI.
The BPI National Plant Quarantine Service Division (NPQSD) has been regularly monitoring Cagayan de Oro City and other parts of the country to determine the actual situation in public markets and cold storage facilities The DA’s credit arm, the Agricultural Credit Policy Council met with the private sector to facilitate support for cold storage and credit assistance for onion growers.